Mark Cali says:
May 9, 2013 at 10:17 pm
@219 really? Your going to go there? You and Bitterlaw are in your own bromance sir. And Castor should have been picked for the GOP Governor nomination. Corbett is a train wreck.

Michael always uses the “@” when replying to someone. And the verbage is clearly Michael.

MADISON (AP) – Wisconsin’s budget surplus grew by $500 million Thursday, leading to a bipartisan call by state lawmakers and Gov. Scott Walker to put some of the money toward public schools two years after funding was cut by more than $1 billion.

Republicans said they were committed to cutting taxes, putting money in reserves, and reducing the amount of bonding used for roads projects. Democrats called for investing more in worker training, but didn’t endorse deeper tax cuts.

The numbers put Walker and the Legislature in unfamiliar territory. When the governor took office two years ago, the state was facing a $3.6 billion shortfall.

8- First time they haven’t had to borrow in a month in 6 years—in April.

“Additionally, federal income-tax changes that went into effect in January may have spurred many California taxpayers to sell investments last year. The rising stock market may also be propelling capital gains revenue for the state.

Personal income taxes are California’s most important source of revenue. The state has historically relied on its wealthy taxpayers to provide much of those taxes.”

– California’s going to have the same problems after this year absent structural reform.

Tim would hate my life. I often go to hearings to settle cases. What do I get? My regualr pay. The other attorney gets 20% of the settlement. I either do the same work or more than the other lawyer but he or she gets $10k to $40k more. I don’t know any people who get hurt so I am stuck on my side of the law. I also am not sympathetic to Claimants.

#9:
No, they won’t, I think. I put that link there to illustrate something. I could find you a story like that about practically every state in this Country, with their economy getting better. That is because the Country’s economy has gotten much better, since the Great Recession ended. Walker is no more a miracle worker than Brown is. And, if you think Walker deserves some credit, then Brown also does. Is that not reasonable?

Three or four years ago, most of the states in this Country were going broke. That includes my own state. My own Red State, that’s been Red for a decade. This Red State’s economy has improved more slowly than the Country’s economy, using austerity measures. Whose fault is that? I don’t think that austerity works anywhere near as well as a balanced approach. And, I think history bears that out.
The National economy is getting better, and so are the various state economies, as revenues increase. California had a much deeper hole to climb out of, because they are the World’s 9th largest economy. Brown did it in a differenet way, than Walker. But, there is no denying it has worked.
Still, the main driving force is the improvement, in the whole Country.

Walker lowered taxes, cut regs, stood up to the unions.
Brown raises taxes, increased regs and is robbing peter to pay paul. It is kalifornicates last dying gasp, as the producers are leaving the state asap.

The perfect storm is being set for a severe correction In the economy.
You cannot tax yourself into prosperity.

19- Brown’s “different” approach did nothing to address the public employee stranglehold on California’s finances, its appalling schools (among the worst in the nation), or the rash of municipal bankruptcies including cities with populations of hundreds of thousands. Because his approach is more reliant on tax revenue, the one-time spike this year that MAY (big MAY) roughly balance its budget will be problematic to maintain. Also, what happens when the business cycle ends and the next recession hits? – if you look at the unemployment reports/jobless claims in late 2007- the recession appeared as if out of nowhere- there isn’t as much warning as we’d like.

What Walker did, not only closed his state’s budget hole without raising taxes (and without California’s weather advantage/ cool factor)it helped rein in finances at a structural level, gave aid and flexibility to towns and school districts so that THEY don’t have to raise property taxes either, and this program does not hinge upon continued economic growth. All this in the face of the unions losing their sh$t. Walker is far more impressive.

“When it became clear last fall that the CIA’s now discredited Benghazi talking points were flawed, the White House said repeatedly the documents were put together almost entirely by the intelligence community, but White House documents reviewed by Congress suggest a different story.

ABC News has obtained 12 different versions of the talking points that show they were extensively edited as they evolved from the drafts first written entirely by the CIA to the final version distributed to Congress and to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice before she appeared on five talk shows the Sunday after that attack.

White House emails reviewed by ABC News suggest the edits were made with extensive input from the State Department. The edits included requests from the State Department that references to the Al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansar al-Sharia be deleted as well references to CIA warnings about terrorist threats in Benghazi in the months preceding the attack.

That would appear to directly contradict what White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said about the talking points in November.

“Those talking points originated from the intelligence community. They reflect the IC’s best assessments of what they thought had happened,” Carney told reporters at the White House press briefing on November 28, 2012. “The White House and the State Department have made clear that the single adjustment that was made to those talking points by either of those two institutions were changing the word ‘consulate’ to ‘diplomatic facility’ because ‘consulate’ was inaccurate.”

Brandon that is ubsurd. Many thers if you pay close attention use the @ sign as well.

However, I will own up and say yes Mark Cali was me. I wanted to spice up HHR for a day, nothing that I said was my opinion. The thing that I thought would have given it away was my reference to myself numerous times.

28- True that. And that’s saying something- California can get away with a lot of its bulls$it because of its coastal climate- right white people WILL pay extra to live their and sample the Napa Valley vineyard’s finest and watch humpback whales surface in the Pacific. Meanwhile the people in the interior have decaying public services, terrible schools, and few employment prospects.

DW
“24” was a wonderful show in its first few years. It seemed that as Bush43’s approval numbers went down the series became more politically correct until it “jumped the shark” in a season ending episode when the Keifer Southerland character apologized to an Iman for this country’s harsh treatment of Muslims.
I hope that,if the series returns, it goes back to its original way of doing things!

“There is something called Benghazi going on,” said Myers. “And I think the Democrats now are starting to worry about it. I started–I got calls from a number of Democrats yesterday trying to undermine Greg Hicks’s testimony, saying he wasn’t demoted, etc. So I think they feel that some damage was done by those three witnesses on Wednesday.”

Thanks Author,
However, I can’t wait to see the movie, it will be so exciting. In the all the Star Trek series the only time Earth has a full blown attack on it was when the Breen attacked Earth in Star Trek Deep Space Nine.

Bitterlaw, after we talked about the death penalty yesterday for that scum in Cleveland, now today, the news is reporting that they are going to pursue it just like we described, the murders of the unborn children he committed by beating the women in the belly until their babies died.

That should be quite interesting cross-examination, as we discussed yesterday.

DW – Based only on what has been reported (as opposed to the Add-standard of determining guilt on the first day), I think the cross-examination will be ugly. The prosecutor has one advantage – the jury will hate Castro. However, if they are looking for “reasonable doubt,” a good lawyer will create it.

I can see the prosecutor calling a medical expert to explain why Castro caused the miscarriages/deaths. You want reasonable doubt? Here are the questions:

Are you saying that all beatings cause miscarriages?

Isn’t it true that there are thousands of miscarriages every year by healthy women under the care of their doctors?

84- This is where I think the case in terms of the jury would be the hinge- similar to even pre-Castle Doctrine PA if you shot an intruder in your home, no jury would convict you for it regardless of “fear of bodily harm” etc. Probably a reverse here- a jury of his peers will be looking for ANY reason to give him the death penalty. Now he’d have a heck of an appeals case – that’s what I view as the main stumbling block to his date with the gurney- a judge or court holding that as you can’t “PROVE” the miscarriages, you can’t claim it capital murder.

Furthermore Bitter…having been on a jury where the accused “just” committed armed bank robbery, pointing a gun at two teenage girl tellers…I can tell you that once they got on the stand to testify, they were INSTANTLY sympathetic. What if that was my daughter? How much MORE for this case?

I know this scum is on suicide watch, but maybe it would be better for everyone if they just didn’t watch to carefully and the guy offed himself. It would spare these women having to face him in court and relive all this.

But if he doesn’t and it goes to trial, I think a death penalty would be very hard to avoid. I know there are good defense attorneys out there, but how could any reasonable jury member conclude that ALL five miscarriages *COULD* have ended up happening on their own whether or not the defendent scum beat her belly to a pulp and starved her.

95 – Bitter, I know juries can be and are very often dumb. But most juries are involved in cases where there is considerable doubt as to guilt. Smaller profile cases that are cut and dried often don’t go to trial…am I right? In this case, there won’t even be that question in any of the minds of the jurors. It will only be a question of what to do with this scum. The prosecutors are going to have incredible images and testimony.

When I was out with my friends the other night, the 2 who were big Obama supporters in 2008 both mentioned they did not vote in 2012. And they both ridiculed Romney. They are like Madcow, no idea of what Benghazi is, or no desire to find out. Much easier getting through the day when you never question your beliefs.

that guy will not have one sympathetic thing about him. Not ONE member of the jury will sit there and say, oh the poor man. Now, its true there may be some on the jury who recoil at the thought of sentencing a man to death. But this guy is more animal than man. Nobody has a problem putting down a wild rabid dog.

and if this guy is spared the death penalty, and makes it to prison, even prisoners have standards, and this guy will be low-down scum even to them, and he would likely be killed by another prisoner. Just ask Jeff Dahmer.

actually Mike, WAA gave Walker too big a margin in their final WI recall poll. It could be an outlier as other polling has shown Walker to be fine. That or something has happened lately there that the other polls haven’t caught.

For any of you who might doubt that the Obamam administration has been participating in active intimidation of organizations that dissent from the appropriate political opinions:

IRS Apologizes to Tea Party Groups for Inappropriate Scrutiny of Tax-Exempt Status
The head of Exempt Organizations at the Internal Revenue Service publicly apologized to tea party groups May 10 for the treatment they received from the agency when they were applying for tax exemption as advocacy groups.
Groups applying for exemption with the name “tea party” and “patriot” were pulled from a specialized IRS list and sent to a centralized unit for extra review, Lois Lerner told the American Bar Association Tax Section May Meeting in Washington.
Lerner called the IRS’s actions “absolutely wrong and inappropriate.”
She also said the questions the organizations were asked were too broad, including questions about their contributors that were not customary, and said many of the cases sat around for too long.

What a corrupt administration. This is what you get when the press refuses to do its job. Very dangerous situation and invites all kinds of abuses – which the Obama administration has happily given us.

If anyone comes to NYC and wants a bar with the best jukebox, WXOU on Hudson St., near Charles. Afterwards, or before, depending on time, make sure to go to Magnolia Bakery for some cupcakes. Run a mile or 2 in the morning so you don’t feel guilty.

So what have we learned today:
(1) The IRS denied non-profit status to conservative non-profit groups during 2012. The motive is easy– without non-profit status, the groups could not fund raise.
(2) The Investigator General of the Department of Defense has accused the political appointees at the DoD of obstructing his investigation into contract fraud in Afghanistan. This Administration has had numerous run-ins with IGs.
(3) Three(3) liberal journalists–Jon Karl(ABC),Lisa Meyers(NBC) and Ron Fournier(AP) have expanded on the Benghazi shenanigans. Fournier went as far to conclude that The State Dept. politicized Benghazi immediately after the incident.

So in one day,we have seen how the Administration corrupted the State Dept., the Treasury Dept(IRS)and the DoD. Who’s next? My bet is on Homeland Security.

Will Dim Tim,jack or any other of the HHR trolls admit that this Administration is sleaze on steroids?!

Jul the county party is informing voters to vote for the republicans. We seem to be favored to take the GOP nomination. However, no one knows if myself or my republican counterpart will get the democratic nomination. We have left it for the voters to decide.

Don’t mention the prom where the lily white Republican candidate took a young girl who happened to be a minority, but then ditched her for a person with more of the same hue before the night was through.

Good luck. Michael but do not stress out about your quotes and statements. The only people who read them are the candidates, their families (who really don’t read them but say they do) and 8 old cranky guys who wear black socks with shorts.

Don’t worry guys, I might have my shot to take the democratic nomination.

There is a forum that I must go to that is being held in the borough. It is being hosted by the Democrats of Centre county. They are doing this for the borough council candidates and school board candidates. The democrats are going to be asking myself and my republican counterpart the toughest questions so they can see which one of us they will be more comfortable voting for.

Yes, but there is a difference. Settle wasn’t a member of the community, was basically searching for office for his résumé rather than wanting to help the community. Finally he didn’t appeal to the community. He was going to receive the drubbing in the general because he was the only candidate that was negative. I will state though that the county democrats also overstepped their bounds on a few occasions.

“Sanford’s victory also demolishes the credibility of the Far Left polling firm, Public Policy Polling,” Pratt said. PPP’s numbers, as recently as April 22, had Sanford trailing Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch by nine points.
Even on the eve of the election, with Sanford obviously surging, PPP still had Sanford and Busch within one point of each other.
“In fact, PPP missed it by at least eight points — 18 points if you look at the April 22 poll,” Pratt said. With nearly all of the results in, Sanford led Busch by 54.3% to 45.2%.
“PPP and Bloomberg’s Mayors Against Illegal Guns have led a fraud campaign attempting to convince Republican Senators that their political careers have collapsed as a result of their opposition to gun control,” Pratt said.

“In the White House’s latest efforts at transparency, the administration announced to reporters that it would brief reporters on the latest shocking developments about the Benghazi situation … behind closed doors. Politico reports that the meeting started at approximately 12:45 PM ET, and that it moved the normal press briefing to 1:45 PM ET. Jay Carney, White House press secretary, did not comment on whether the meeting took place.”

So, I was told by some idiot that I am a disgrace because I “only” have $73K in college savings for my 7th grader. This lady thinks everything should be sacrificed to send the kids to schools that will cost 250K over 4 years. What do you guys think?

Well by the time the 7th grader is ready to go you might have $100k in today’s money and enough for 2 years. Add a merit scholarship, you probably make too much for any need based scholarship, and maybe she can work part time and pay for the rest.

jason – by the time she goes to college, we will make much less. I had a lawyer in NYC, a Harvard grad (a Republican who hates Obama believe it or not) tell me that any family with less than $180K in total income can qualify for aid from Harvard. Not that my kids (I also have a 4th grader) will be going to Harvard.

What you consider a good start, I consider to be – “I am almost done”. Nothing wrong with community college for 2 years and then a transfer to Penn State or another affordable school. They could get 4 year degrees and have zero debt. We met a young woman who was a waitress at a restaurant. We started to chat and she told us that she graduated 2 years ago from some school I never heard of with a degree in Arts. Has 75K in debt and cannot get a job with any career path. Said her balance never seems to go down which indicates to me that she had at least some private loans. A degree in Arts. Her academic adviser did her a world of good.

Exactly Michael. Today, the total cost for that, over 4 years with books and board for the final 2 would be $83K. Still way too much for a public school but it can be done. I have great universities like Villanova right here that I cannot consider because it will be between 250 and 300K (not counting books and other expenses) by the time they go. Just not going to happen.

I want to be very clear that although MD and I ech have a daughter in 4th grade, we do not have the same daughter. Of course, his daughter does look a bit like mine. MD and I were invited on Maury Povitch for a Father’s Day show but I don’t know why.

As for college, I leave that to my wife to set up savings. My son is in 9th grade and my 85 year old dad loves cigarettes and beer. It is all falling into place.

How rich is your 85 year old Dad? My father will spend every dime. He has never been good with money. My Mom, who has always been good with $, will now spend every dime supporting my brother. So, what I have is what I have and that is the way it should be in the end.

I prefer the elitist path. I will find a way to send them to private 4 year schools if that is what they want. It was the best time of my life and when I die, I can at least remember good times rather than all those fun years I could have lived at home while driving to community college.

My Dad bought his house in 1973 for $65,000. I don’t think anything in his town goes for less than $1.1 million now. I keep telling hm to sell it because it is too much to take care of. Throw in some stocks, divide by 3 and at least one child will get the full ride. My daughter better spend less time playing MineCraft and more time at becoming a scholarship level left-handed catcher.

My dad was always pissed about “financial aid” when I was in college. We didn’t qualify but every year the school raised tuition and part of the increase was to fund additional financial aid (I’m not kidding). My dad is also an alumni and he me met the President at a Homecoming event. He actually asked him to explain that logic and he could not.

I am also fortunate to have save some $ over the years. I have seen first hand what can happen when you don’t. I am amazed that I survived being employed after last Wednesday. If I can make it to mid Aug, I would earn an additional 100k in bonus money. It should be even more but with the new system (that is “good” for me according to mgmt), I am probably losing 75 to 100k in bonus money that would have been due me under the old system. After August, the most I could make is 25k for the rest of the year and, as I just found out, they could screw me on that.

Bitter – I sell financial products to institutional clients. It isn’t that complicated really. My clients now are mostly insurance firms, family offices, other asset management firms, offshore pension plans and the local admin firms for defined contribution plans in Bermuda and Cayman. I irony is that I really love it. If my insane boss would just let me sell things would be fine. Instead, he has all these “measurements”, most subjective that have nothing to do with my role. Nothing. They set an unrealistic asset goal for me this year, but, much to their surprise, I am actually on pace to hit it. So, they now devised a system to punish me for “other” things. This all goes back to my former boss (now my boss’ boss) being embarrassed a couple of years ago when they tried to screw me. So, my current, an insane nut job, is friends with my old boss. They go on vaca together. I have been yelled at, more than once, in a public setting, by my current boss. There are a million different things but you get the picture.

When I worked as a Staff Attorney for an insurance company, they had no idea what to do with lawyers. We functioned like a law firm in handling cases but there was no profit to be had from us (even though we cost less per file than outside firms). A VP visited our office and told us that we were “debits and not assets.”

Evaluations were based on criteria that had nothing to with results. Win a case but report on it 48 hours later instead of 24 – fail. Submit “litigation plan” exactly like 327 prior plans (a rear end hit is a rear end hit) 1 day late? Fail. The “Number 1 Trial Attorney” had not tried a case in 3 years but was always available to attend training seminars (and golf outings in New York).

MD – I only play when my office manager sends around an e-mail when it goes over $200 million. 10 of us play and I think fter taxes (we opt for the single payment) it would be around $10 million. I might actually keep my job just to tell my boss “I’l get to that when I feel like it.”

Bitter – had a discussion with a co-worker yesterday regarding the Phils. He is just like you. Always positive even if the evidence proves otherwise. Tried to tell me that Dom Brown is having a great year. 6 HR’s with a BA of 244 and a OBP of 299 and he is a clear liability in the field. That is “great” now.

MD – Even when I know the Phillies suck, I want to believe they don’t. I predicted 90 wins and I will stay with it but I am pretty sure it won’t happen now. They had a good run and if it ends after this year, they can suck again. It’s what I’m used to anyway.

The computer in my “home office” (a/k/a the bedroom we don’t use) was driving me crazy. I ran virus scans, reset settings that I have no idea what they do and tried every troubleshooter I could find. Today, I went to bestbuy’s site and started researching All-in-one touch screen computers. I think the computer got scared. It has worked fine without any issues for the last 5 hours.

They had a great run Bitter. A world series and 2 pennants, with 5 playoff appearances over a 5 year period. Ask Cub fans about that. They rolled the dice hoping to extend a few more years but were very unlucky with injuries. Utley and Howard missing for the first half last year crushed them. Plus, Doc was injured. Now, Doc seems to be done and the lineup just doesn’t produce enough runs anymore.

Some tough decisions after this year – Utley, Doc and Ruiz. My suspicion is that none of them will be on the team next year. The Phil’s can’t completely go into rebuilding mode since they will have almost $70m going to 3 players – Hamels, Howard and Lee. They have to try and keep the park mostly filled. I think their TV deal is up after 14 so they will gain a lot more revenue after that.

I think they are going to have to commit to the farm again and see if they can produce some quality players over the next few years. Then, maybe by 16 or 17, they can be a true contender again with mixing in a few good signings as well. It is very clear that Sandberg will be the manager next year. He will probably get a 3 year deal.

As for the Phillies, they need a farm system. Howard, Rollins, Utley and Hamels came from it. Pretty ironic that Ed Wade (reviled by most) built the foundation of the 2008 and 2009 World Series teams. As Mike Missanelli (radio host) says, “Why are the Phillies the only team that can’t bring up a 22 year old pitcher that throws heat? Every other team that plays the Phillies seems to have one.”

OK $6 then. I really don’t like to play considering the impossible odds. I once red a study that said your chances are just as good with one ticket as they are if you buy a hundred or that the difference was so small that you might as well just buy one.

Scott – take a look at Cisco (CSCO). The PE ratio is extremely low. I know that there troubles center around that fact that technology seems to be moving away from routers which are their bread and butter. However, with a 3.3% div yield, a 12 PE TTM and $46B in cash, I have to wonder if there is really a downside.

BTW – I invested in Apple (one of the few stocks I am allowed to own – I could buy Cisco btw) 2 Wednesdays ago at 402.89 – 24 shares.

OK, let parse that link from Joe the Plumber. While I agree with him on many issues, he is off on some basics here.

1. There is usually a ton of intel on these things and multiple things are said. If we took action on everything, we simply would have no marathons, ball games or anything else where crowds congregate.

2. They did NOT know when the bombs would go off. People finish the marathon over a span of several years. It is absurd to say they knew that.

3. The event was not locked down. In the future that could very well changed. However, this is the type of thing where they could very well have secured the area only to have these terrorist fuc@s come along 2 minutes later. Again, unless we do not allow for free movement or have no spectators at all, I am not sure what they could have done.

4. Yes, the FBI interviewed the scumbag. However, we don’t arrest people for things we think they might do in the future. Again, unless the FBI had a crystal ball, I am not certain what they could have done. Now, I do question letting these types of people into our country in the first place. That is a topic worthy of exploration.

This one was a doosey. Lots of downed, upended trees we had to maneuver through and around. Lots of mud. Plus it rained. Walked one suspension bridge over the major river, but had to ford one stream. After several hours of trekking, we came to another stream and everyone balked about fording this raging creek.

We did see some painted trilliums and lady slippers.
No sightings of any lady nightgowns.

Bought a new TV yesterday – a 50″ Toshiba LED for $449 ($476 after tax). The picture is unreal. Anyway, looks like I finally have to go back to Comcast cable. I can get a deal that will cost me about the same per month but give me all the movie channels, DVR service on 4 sets (which I will now need because we are going to hook up the basement for the girls) and a $500 pre-paid visa card. That alone makes the change worth it.

#399-MD
IMHO, all DOW companies are overvalued except for CISCO and Caterpillar(and maybe BAC),which are “reasonably” priced. Even Buffet this week did not call equities cheap,but “at a reasonable level”.

I like INTC as well. I know I seem like I am favoring tech. That really isn’t the case. They are the ones making it through my screen which amounts to at least a 20% discount to the overall market on a TTM basis with a yield at least 10% higher than the S&P 500 with lots of cash. If they make that screen then I look at the other variables – do they have a sustainable competitive advantage, decent mgmt, a strong brand and so on. For instance I love everything about QCOM, including mgmt and competitive advantage, but they don’t make my PE screen.

A company doesn’t have to be perfect but I need the numbers to work 100% and on the other stuff, I have to be relatively sure. The numbers for AAPL were just unreal and I didn’t buy into the story that they were finished because of having to go down market due to competitive pressures. I still do not buy that. Plus, they announced the largest buy back ever of stock. When I bought it, AAPl was at 9.5 PE TTM which is almost hard to believe. It felt like I was stealing money at 402. If the PE had been higher than 15 though, I wouldn’t have bought it.

A good firm indeed but it doesn’t pass my PE or Div Yield screen. I actually think Apple should put some of their offshore cash to work and buy them. The I TV that is supposedly coming means nothing without loads of content. Also, imagine the synergies with AAPL and the Disney theme parks. Getting ABC and the studio would give AAPL all the content they need and they could literally reshape the entire marketplace. The market cap for DIS is 120B. AAPL could get controlling interest and still have billions left over. The trick is that somehow they would have to use some of the $100B of cash they have offshore without bringing it to the U.S. That could prove tricky.

So Scott, here is a quandary I am in. I have a position in VFH that I have held for 6 years. I lost more than half my investment but it has come back and I am now 10% up. Yea, I bought near the all time high. Now, I look at financials and it is a tale of 2 cities. I love insurance firms and regional banks but think the big boys (with the exception of JPM) are way overvalued. Overall, the PE is still low enough to justify keeping it but the div yield has fallen big time. Not really sure what to do. I hate it when the sell signals diverge.

Ford (F) also makes my screen from a numbers perspective but the UAW makes me gun shy. Then again, they didn’t need to go hat in hand to the gov to save them and I think they make a very smart move in closing the Mercury division.

449- The F-150 and Focus market share combination they have (plus their habit of planning beyond the short-term, probably a factor of the Ford family maintaining a presence) makes me think that Ford is a hell of a lot more stable than the rest of the “Big Three”.

WPA – absolutely no question about that. I actually think it is because the Ford Family now stays in the background. Mulally has proven to be the best CEO of the major auto firms. He came with a strategy and stuck to it even when the bottom fell out in 08. Now, having the Ford Family trust still being a huge owner IS what saved them from a bailout. Having Mulally though, has proven to be a huge plus.

But I agree with you on UAW- having the best pick-up on the market and arguably the best sedan covers so much of the US demand market, and their good CEO/Ford family backing means they’re more flexible that GM or Chrysler. Still, Toyota can make their excellent cars and trucks in Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Indiana, and sell them to the US market as more American made than anything out of GM.

Michael – at one time I loved Duke Energy. However, what has happened to the stock price is what has happened to most of the firms like Duke. In the chase for yield, these firms have now been bid up to a valuation level where they are more risky than many tech firms (see AAPL, INTC and CSCO). At 21 PE, this is now a somewhat speculative play. It is not easy money. A stock like this (with a solid firm which Duke is BTW) should carry a 12 to 15 PE with a div yield around 5%. It is NOT an awful buy at this level but Duke does not represent easy money either. Basically, Bernancke is responsible for the rise of those types of stocks. When and if rates normalize, a stock like Duke will correct by 20% very quickly. In other words, you better be sure that the gravy train of QE will continue.

@Politics1com: CALIFORNIA: State Sen Alex Padilla (D) is latest to enter open race of Secretary of State.

@Politics1com: CALIFORNIA: Term-limited State Treasurer & ex-Attorney General Bill Lockyer (D) launches run for open State Controller post.

The Secretary of State position might be bad luck for the democrats. With more running for SOS, the more likely the Green Party. Which averages 5-15% in statewide races sometimes, could steal the nomination. And the republican would be around 20-40% so they would be a lock for the nomination.

Michael – that kind of stock is out of my wheelhouse to be honest. It is a speculative play that can provide huge returns as evidenced recently. If I were a chartist (and I am not), I probably wouldn’t like this stock right now. For the record, it makes pretty much none of my screens. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a great investment. I am just not very good at that type of speculation. I look for 1’s and 2’s on the difficulty scale. Finding Tesla type of stocks is more like 8’s and 9’s. I am not smart enough for that difficulty level.

Yea, that is pretty funny WPA. I did predict that Sestak would win that primary months before. Dems and R’s don’t agree on much but they agreed on Specter. He started as a D, became an R and ended as a D. Not many make that round trip.

WPA – that is when the east/west split in PA meant a lot more than the R/D. Yes, Philly was a D stronghold even then (really had been since the 50’s) but Specter was VERY well known in Philly and was a very popular DA in the city so his victory there against Flaraghy (or whatever – I actually remember the race) was no surprise at the time. If it happened today, I would probably die of shock.

I had bubba burgers tonight in my quest to gain 5 pounds. Due to a minor injury, I have not worked out in 10 days and have been eating a ton. So far? 1 pound gained. I have read that my metabolism has probably changed quite a bit and that it would take a while of truly bad living to revert.

WPA – the real problem are the Philly burbs. If they were as red as just 25 years ago, Bush would have won in 00 and 04, Obama would have won narrowly in 08 and Romney probably would have prevailed in 12.

485- Right, as my third of the state has re-aligned heavily Republican since 1994 or so. Even Allegheny County, still a Dem stronghold- has shifted from about D + 10-12 to D+ 5. While all the counties around it have flipped Republican. Westmorland is a good example, Reagan never won it- Romney took 60 percent there, Toomey 61, Corbett 67%. It’s roughly as large as Berks County

Scott – if you are around, I know this stock had a bad 1st q but give me your opinion on AGNC. Another real estate collapse and it would tank. I don’t see that happening however (I think we move along in a sluggish way for the next decade). I also have a lot of faith in the CEO who is a proven commodity.

MD. have you ever helped a political campaign??? If you did you could make it easier to win your swing county that you live in! If the swing county that you live in pumped out a 52% for Romney it might have helped. You could have helped get 35 to vote!
Did my part, I helped register over 40 people, most republicans.

My wife and I have a new favorite show – Scorned: Love kills. Every week, a real life love triangle leads to murder. 2 weeks ago, it was a murder from around here. The “recreations” are awesome because it’s just hot women climbing all over the guy or guys. They never look like the real people. Investigation Discovery channel t 9:00 tonight.

Michael – The problem is that there are no people in the red counties in Pennsylvania. Romney could have won Lancaster County and Chester County with 100% of the vote and not equaled Obama’s total in Center City, North Philadelphia and West Philadelphia.

Better performance in Luzerne and Lackawanna would have helped as well. We did a little better in Luzerne than in 08 but made no progress at all in Lackawanna which was extremely disappointing. Those idiots continue to vote against their own interests.

But it is, by far, the largest city in Dauphin. It is a dump. Harrisburg City Island back in the day was a lot of fun though. Went to a Quiet Riot/Lover Boy concert there in 83, drank a bottle of Cold Duck, got outrageously sick in the woods and lost my shoes. True story. I had to walk back across the bridge hung over, muddy and bare foot. Good times. And, oh yea, I drove. No problem though for 2 reasons. I was sober by then and I was in the best shape out of anyone in my group that night. Yea, quite a party.

jason – you just described the problem. Take Chester County and add in Cumberland and that is a lot less votes. Chesco is basically almost a 50/50 split at this point. Berks is also going the wrong way. Next up will be York and Lancaster County. Let’s hope not anyway.

It is all about the numbers. I just couldn’t see anyway for Romney to overcome just a few large counties where the D’s crush us.

Chester needs to go republican by a majority 52% preferable if a republican wants any shot at taking PA. Because if Chester is at 52%, Bucks shouldn’t be too far behind with a possible 50-51% lead for the candidate.

The state party should concentrate on Luzerne, Lackawanna, and Pike counties now. Those counties, if margins were closer, could seriously help.

I had friends in Hershey. We used to go to the movies at the Harrisburg East Theatre. Paid admission to one movie and would hop from movie to movie. See 3 or 4. Also, we snuck into Hershey Park all the time. There was a creek that could be accessed on the road that led right into the park. A few years ago, I brought my family there. When I saw the price of admission, I was tempted to see if it was still viable.

This is bad for the Dems. It flies in the face of Congressional testimony given by IRS higher-ups that they only found out about this when it became known. Combine this with the Benghazi hearings which the media and Dems are really getting worried about and you have some awfully nervous and increasingly shrill congressmen leading up to November 2014. I’m looking forward to seeing Jay Carney’s next press conference. Richard Nixon is Obama’s role model. We were all fooled into thinking it was Alinsky

I know Phoenix. Did you see how all the networks led with the IRS story? Then, I looked out my window and saw pigs fly, Rosie O’Donnell turn down a piece chocolate cake, Ryan Howard show patience at the plate and Bitter complete a 10K.

Phoenix – Corbett is extremely vulnerable. If the Dems run someone from outside the Philly area that can keep the western side of the state from turning out max support for Corbett, then the D’s will win. If they nominate Schwartz, Corbett will hold. On a House level, I don’t see much movement at all to be honest. Unless things change radically, the D’s could pick up a seat at most. My guess right now is no change either way. The R’s are maxed out and the D’s can only be competitive in a few CD’s. Now, if a couple of our guys get caught up in scandals, then that could change things. Marino worries me in that regard but his CD is much more favorable with the current map.

Buried in the more than 800 pages of the bipartisan legislation (.pdf) is language mandating the creation of the innocuously-named “photo tool,” a massive federal database administered by the Department of Homeland Security and containing names, ages, Social Security numbers and photographs of everyone in the country with a driver’s license or other state-issued photo ID.
Employers would be obliged to look up every new hire in the database to verify that they match their photo.

#496- MD
At least while the Fed continues with its QE, AGNC seems to be a good equity to have if the dividend stays at about $5 /share.
Insiders are both buying and selling in the $30/ share range, the stock moves in a relatively narrow range and is presently at the low end of its 52 week range, most analysts have it as a Buy or Strong Buy and the company never skipped a dividend payment during the last recession.
If you purchase shares, keep your Sell finger right over the button!

521- Catholicism. Elk county is a Catholic enclave in that part of PA – traditionally Catholic Dems of the old style ( die-hard-Kennedy loyalists). Went for Breckenridge in 1860 over Lincoln. They go for Biden or Casey-like Dems, so it broke for O in 2008- discovered his policies, then swung massively against him. Same dynamic with Cambria County (Johnstown area).

Also- Jason- in 2004 GW Bush took 66% in Lancaster (won it by 70,000) and 63.75% in York- won it by 50,000. Those are the types of numbers we need out of those counties to cancel out Delco and Montco- let the rest of the state outweigh Philly. Take Bucks and Chester- take the Lehigh Valley, keep it within 10 in Allegheny so that it’s R-trending suburb counties can take care of its total easily. Then let the small counties add up to take out Philly net 10,000, 20,000, and 30,000 votes at a time.

Jamie “Lord and Savior” Foxx stars as the President in this predictive programming propaganda film.

From Wikipedia:
When a paramilitary group led by Stenz (Jason Clarke) take over the White House, US Capitol Police officer John Cale (Channing Tatum), a rejected applicant to the Secret Service, must rescue the President of the United States James Sawyer (Jamie Foxx) while trying to keep his daughter Emily (Joey King) out of danger.[1]

545- Altmire is working for a healthcare company in Florida now. Moved down there- so it seems he’s out. Critz might think about running again as he took a job as a lobbyist for an energy company-coal and natural gas, some wind. I was called by a DCCC poll on a Critz-Rothfus rematch.

550- I get the gist (just my opinion) that Altmire is very disillusioned with the left in his party- as Critz took him down in the primary from the left because Altmire voted against a number of Obama initiatives- which considering the lean of the district, is the only thing that saved him in 2010.

Here’s his commentary (fairly frank) on the healthcare bill for his company- Florida Blue (branch of Blue Cross Blue Shield)

555- He couldn’t win a statewide Dem primary- too pro-life, pro-gun, anti-O-care, anti- carbon tax, etc, etc. He’d be devoured in the east. It’d be more likely for him to switch parties. Frankly, his best bet would have been to do that after 2010.

“437.That sounded dirty but probably isn’t.”
***********************
Each year, one of the plant and flower pilgrimages here goes on a tour of mosses. We have never been on the tour lead by this woman expert. But when all the tours report, this woman who gives the report to the assembled body of about 200 total pilgrims about what all they saw on the moss tour speaks excitedly in an almost orgasmic manner about the male and female mosses and the size of their reproductive organs, etc., etc.

After she presented the highlights from her tour tonight, the MC got up and said that every year after she presents, he always wants to light up a cigarette.

562- They have a bench- the auditor general, a couple philly congressmen- Allyson Schwartz is already planning a run, possibly Sestak, though he might want to wait for a rematch with Toomey. Who knows?

568- Right- though Corbett needs to get his numbers up- say in 6 months if he’s still very deep underwater he may need to think about not running again. Who could hold it– maybe one of the Congressmen, Meehan, Gerlach, or Perry (after a few terms), have statewide potential. Meehan and Gerlach’s seats would require a fight/ half-decent candidate to hold as they’re both R + 2. Better than they were, but not slam dunks either. I know Gerlach has held ambitions for governor, and Meehan has state-wide electable written all over him.

Gerlach is now my Congressman while Meehan was before the new map. Meehan would seem to be the better choice. I don’t see Corbett stepping out. We will see. My instincts tell me we could be in trouble on this one unless we can draw Schwartz.

Meehan would seem like a logical choice but he was part of the investigation against Street during Street’s re-election. They would play the race card in Philly. Not sure it would make a huge difference but you never know.

Meehan would do well. I met him. He actually cares about he local level. He called me personally to ask that I run for Township Commissioner. He can play that humble-roots Irish Catholic card in Scranton and other areas.

577- I could also see him running for Senate if Bob Casey ever tires of sleepwalking through his terms. Say Corbett is reelected in 2014- the next “8 year turnover” is the same year Casey’s term is up, and Bob Jr. might want to finish things up in the job he’s clearly always wanted.

579- Problem is the Philly burb Senate R’s won’t allow it. It may take the West fully realigning in the legislature (ie there are a few Dem State senators in very red districts out here) and producing a ridiculous R Senate majority to do it properly.

582- Right, that’s the hang up. “Wine and Spirits” can be portrayed as an outdated gov’t monopoly (which it is). The beer distributors in a lot of small towns are independent mom-and-pop businesses that have been there for 30 years, have a good selection, and people don’t want to possibly screw over. Hell, in college the lady who ran “Deb’s High Street Blues” knew us by name and would give us free glasses, t-shirts, or drink coolers with some of our purchases. That sure as hell didn’t happen at the “State Store”.

District Justice.. I lost to a guy who has lived his entire life here. He owns his own company. The only chance I had was to get the lazy Villanova students to come out and vote. Here is a news flash – unless you are a Democrat in a Presidential year, college students are worthless.

He is not running again in 2015 but I did my duty for the party. They can find somebody else.

True story – I was asked to run for DA in Philadelphia by the GOP. I told them no because I had never handled a criminal case and It would have made the party look desperate (which it was). The party chairman actually put out a story which appeared as a small note in the Daily News or Inquirer that I was the nominee. I think they eventually settled on Jack McMahon – the lawyer currently defending Kermit Gosnell.

Bitterlaw, why not run. If it is the office you have always wanted to hold then why not try and seize the sea one last time? Maybe the political environment will be good enough in 2015 for you to change your mind.

Well I ran on my own accord for the race I am in now, but just a few weeks ago a township supervisor approached me and said that if I were to lose I should run for his supervisor position because he said he would be retiring in a few years.

Michael – I am curious about what motivates you. I respect anybody who runs for office. However, why do you want these positions so badly so early? Are you a mini-Jul running to eventually get a paying job in government while claiming you hate government? Are you motivated by a need to serve the public (most of whom are never happy no matter who wins)?

I am only asking you because I want you to understand that when your youth is gone, it is gone forever. I’m not telling you do meth or get a tattoo but there is plenty of time for politics.

Business dinner tonight. The client is here to visit our offices tomorrow (I won’t be here – headed to Bermuda for a jam packed schedule until Wednesday). The client is a great person but Captain insane as+hole is going to be there as well. He has to “grade me” on how I handle dinner. That is not a joke. It continues to drive them nuts that I hit all sales goals. So, they just change the rules.

“It starts to change the relationship between the citizen and state, you do have to get permission to do things,” said Chris Calabrese, a congressional lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union. “More fundamentally, it could be the start of keeping a record of all things.”

David Bier, an analyst with the Competitive Enterprise Institute, agrees with the ACLU’s fears.
“The most worrying aspect is that this creates a principle of permission basically to do certain activities and it can be used to restrict activities,” he said. “It’s like a national ID system without the card.”
Good thing the terrorists aren’t winning or anything.

n 1977, Carl Bernstein, famed for his Watergate reporting, disclosed that more than 400 journalists and executives of mostly liberal US media organisations had worked for the CIA in the past 25 years. They included journalists from the New York Times, Time and the big TV broadcasters.

Here is the story: With a little more than a week to go until the SCGOP state convention, things are beginning to get a little personal. S.C. Republican Party chairman Chad Connelly sent out an e-mail rant against upstate member
READ MORE: http://schotline.us/scgop/

Chad Connelly is the same person that stripped Chris Lawton from being a National Ron Paul Delegate in Tampa August of 2012.

“On the general question of ‘nullification,’ 44 percent believe states should have the right to block any federal laws they disagree with on legal grounds. Thirty-six percent disagree and 20 are undecided.”

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